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The top stories near you

• WUFT News: Gainesville City Commission Pushes Forward In Allowing Open Containers On City Property. "People in Gainesville would be able to consume and possess any alcoholic beverage on property owned and operated by the City of Gainesville, such as parks and public right-of-ways. City management and city commissioners are concerned about the return of University of Florida students to Gainesville for the fall semester leading to more coronavirus cases, particularly because of large gatherings at indoor house parties."

• We are today releasing the 21-minute WUFT-TV documentary version of "Four Days, Five Murders," a companion piece to our podcast series that ran in this space last week.

• The Alligator: Anita Hill to speak to UF virtually at first Accent event of the semester. "Anita Hill, lawyer and Brandeis University professor, will speak to UF Sept. 10 during a virtual event hosted by Accent Speakers Bureau and the Women’s Student Association... Up to 3,000 attendees can attend the hour-long Zoom discussion."

• Washington Post ($): Building bans and affordable housing: A construction conundrum. "Seeking to curtail gentrification and displacement, Atlanta and Chicago put construction and demolition moratoriums in place early this year... Similar proposals are under discussion in New York, where a major expansion of Harlem’s Lenox Terrace housing complex has led to moratorium calls, and Gainesville, Fla., where student housing at the University of Florida may threaten historically Black neighborhoods."

• Programming note: The Point news roundup will be on hiatus for the Monday holiday, but we will send some questions for you in a feedback survey before returning to our normal format on Tuesday. Thank you in advance, and please enjoy the holiday.

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Around the state today

• NBC Miami: Florida Reports 3,571 New Coronavirus Cases, Nearly 150 More Virus-Related Deaths. "Deaths confirmed by the state increased by 149, with 11,650 Floridians dying from COVID-related causes to-date. Another 150 non-residents have died in the state. Many deaths reported by the state happened days or weeks earlier, as it takes time to confirm causes of death."

• WUWF: Voting By Mail? The Earlier The Better. "'You have until October 24 to request a mail-in ballot, but I wouldn’t wait that late,' (Tappie Villane, Santa Rosa County’s supervisor of elections, said). 'You want to give yourself plenty of time.'"

• WFSU: Florida Districts Differ On School COVID-19 Information Released. "K-12 schools across the state began sending people home to self-isolate within days of classes starting. Some districts are releasing the names of schools where close contact with a confirmed positive case has occurred, while others are not disclosing this information."

• Orlando Sentinel ($): Florida tells health officials not to release coronavirus data about schools. "The number of students and school staff who are infected — or whether infections are being transmitted in classrooms ― will no longer be released by health officials, Dr. Raul Pino, the state’s health officer in Orange County, said at a Thursday briefing."

• Bloomberg: Law School Grads Can’t Skip Florida Bar Exam, Court Says. "The Florida Supreme Court shot down a proposal that would allow recent law school graduates to substitute training for taking the bar exam."

• WUSF: DeSantis Vows To Ease Restrictions on Bars, Breweries Soon. "Governor Ron DeSantis talked with local brewery owners Thursday in St. Petersburg about their business struggles due to the coronavirus pandemic, and their prospects for fully re-opening."

• Miami Herald ($): Student arrested for cyberattack against Miami schools used ‘easy to prevent’ program. "The simplicity of the 16-year-old’s attack alarmed cybersecurity experts, who cautioned that the district should have been able to withstand such an attack. The student admitted to using a tool called a 'Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC),' according to an unredacted arrest report obtained by the Herald. Experts say it is software that is easy to download and can be used to disrupt websites."

• Pensacola News Journal ($): 3.8 magnitude earthquake rocks areas of Santa Rosa County, southern Alabama Thursday morning. "It's the first earthquake felt in the area since a series of tremors rocked the area last year. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, nine earthquakes hit near the Florida-Alabama line in far north Escambia and Santa Rosa counties between March 7 and April 14, 2019."

• Tallahassee Democrat ($): Tallahassee Police shifting tactics and will 'enforce traffic laws' at unpermitted protests. "As a Leon County grand jury meets, and a ruling on whether TPD officers were justified in their shooting of murder suspect Tony McDade in May appears imminent, a countywide curfew has been enacted in part to try and stem any late-night demonstrations that could become violent."

• WTSP: City of Tampa apologizes for racist past. "In a vote Thursday, the City Council passed a Resolution for Racial Reconciliation that formally acknowledges the city's history of slavery and denounces discrimination against the Black community."

• Florida Times-Union ($): City of Jacksonville logged costs of up to $153,602 on Republican National Convention. "More than half the cost stemmed from overtime pay for employees working to prepare for the convention, mainly by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office employees who were tasked with getting security preparations done in a tight time frame."

• New York Times ($): Art Basel Miami Beach Is Canceled. "Citing the continuing death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in South Florida, organizers of the Art Basel Miami Beach fair — which each year attracts the global stars of the art world — said on Wednesday that they were canceling this year’s event, which had been scheduled for December."

From NPR News

• Health: Who's The President's New Coronavirus Adviser? What's His Plan For Managing Pandemic?

• Health: Flu Season Looms And Scientists Wonder How Flu And COVID-19 Might Mix

• National: Rochester, N.Y., Mayor Suspends Officers Over Asphyxiation Death Of Daniel Prude

• Politics: Facebook Clamps Down On Posts, Ads That Could Undermine U.S. Presidential Election

• Business: Dow Drops Over 800 Points As Hot Tech Stocks Reverse Course

• World: After Italians Endured Harsh Lockdowns, COVID-19 Cases Spike Again

About today's curator

I'm Ethan Magoc, a news editor at WUFT. Originally from Pennsylvania, I've found a home telling Florida stories. I’m part of a team searching each morning for local and state stories that are important to you; please send feedback about today's edition or ideas for stories we may have missed to emagoc@wuft.org.